Results: The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword

On October 29, 1945, the first ball point pen in the U.S. went on sale at Gimbels Department Stores for $12.59. On the first day of sale, $100,000 worth were sold. The initial success of Reynolds Rockets ballpoint pen as a fad did not last, however. It leaked and was unreliable. By 1948, the price fell below 50 cents. By 1951, his enterprise had failed. Did you ever own a Reynolds Rockets ball point pen?

Hungarian journalist László Bíró, is credited with inventing the ballpoint pen, back in the 1930s. In fact, Bíró wasn't the first to develop the idea: The ballpoint pen was originally patented in 1888 by an American leather tanner named John Loud, but his idea never went any further. Over the next few decades, dozens of other patents were issued for pens that used a ballpoint tip of some kind, but none of them made it to market. And while Reynolds Rockets were a little costly and inefficient, it was a little pen named Bic that changed the face of pens. The Bic Cristal which combined function and affordability has found its way into just about every hand and countless pockets over the world. There are 20 million pens sold every day, mounting up to over 100 billion ballpoint pens sold in all 5 continents since 1953. Was a Bic your pen of choice?

In 2015, Bic launched a campaign to "save handwriting." Named "Fight for Your Write," it included a pledge to "encourage the act of handwriting" in the pledge-taker's home and community, and emphasized putting more of the company's ballpoints into classrooms. I don't know about you, but in my home, we have a drawer full of pens, as well as several coffee cups filled with pens -- no shortage in my home. There may even be a pencil or two (probably in need of a good sharpening). Do you have a lot of pens in your home?